Research confirmed in 2012 that water from Canada’s oilsands tailings ponds was leaching into groundwater and seeping into the Athabasca River.

Research confirmed in 2012 that water from Canada’s oilsands tailings ponds was leaching into groundwater and seeping into the Athabasca River.
Photo Credit: Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press/file photo

World using groundwater far too quickly: study

Less than six per cent of the groundwater closest to the Earth’s surface is renewable within a human lifetime and humans are using it up far too quickly, according to a Canadian-led study. The study published in Nature Geoscience is the first estimate of the total supply of groundwater based on data.

Groundwater is used by more than a third of Canada’s and the world’s population for drinking water and it is also used for agriculture. The researchers used various data and models to set the world’s total volume of groundwater at about 23 million cubic kilometers. Of that, only 0.35 million cubic kilometers is younger than 50 years old. Older groundwater is often too salty or inaccessible to be used.

The young groundwater is more renewable and usable, but it is a finite resource which researchers say is more vulnerable to contamination from the surface and to climate change. They conclude it needs to be protected and better managed.

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